newsletterProud to belong Issue 24 Summer 2018

www.thebusheyacademy.org

As 2017/18 ends, it is time to celebrate and acknowledge the huge amount of talented, respectful and hardworking young people who are at The Bushey Academy. It is clear to see the amazing extra curricula opportunities that the school provides the learners in a wide variety of areas. In this edition, we see examples in science, technology, engineering, maths, sport, music, history, photography, careers and aspiration.

Highlights for me this term include the opportunities to celebrate the achievement of the learners. I was very proud to go to London to the Merchant Taylor’s Hall to help present the MET awards. 10 of our young people won awards and it was great to share this with them and their families. Our Celebration of Success evening was equally amazing.

I am delighted that we continue with our ‘STEM’ (science, technology, engineering and maths) work, as shown by the Faraday project and the rocket car challenge.

Further highlights include seeing our fabulous athletes win the District B league (a tremendous achievement)

and welcoming more inspiring people from businesses to work with our learners on their aspiration and employability skills. As a history teacher, I was thrilled to accompany the Year 10s on their recent field trip to Verulamium in St Albans. The curator of the museum said that the learners from Bushey were the best behaved and most respectful students that had visited in a long time, which is great to hear.

I am very much looking forward to welcoming our new Year 7s in September. I met them all at our recent transfer day and what a fine bunch they are! They are all full of energy and have a very positive mindset. It was great to see so many parents come to the end of day assembly and I enjoyed meeting many of them.

May I thank the many parents who have offered their support to the school after we announced the result of the Ofsted inspection. It is heartening to know that we are uniting behind the academy as we speed up the rate of improvement. We are already seeing good impact from the changes we have recently made and the staff, governors and the MET are working hard to

ensure that the school improves rapidly. A copy of our improvement plan will be available on our website in September.

May I take this opportunity to thank everyone connected to The Bushey Academy for their hard work and dedication. I hope that you have a fantastic summer holiday and I look forward to reporting more news and events in the next newsletter in December.

Jon Hebblethwaite Principal

Message from the Principal

Young School Physicist of The YearAt a reception sponsored by the Ogden Trust at the University of Hatfield , Maanav Bhudia was awarded the Young School Physicist of the Year 2018.

Maanav was nominated for the award due to his excellent performance and hard work in Physics during Year 12 and in particular for the work that he did with an Mx-10 detector identical to those used in the Atlas detector at CERN which was lent to the

school by the Institute for Research In Schools (IRIS). Maanav and his fellow students were trying to detect a sub atomic particle called a muon which is very short lived and is produced in the upper atmosphere by the interactions of high energy protons from outer space and nitrogen or oxygen nuclei.

Well done Maanav on this amazing achievement.

Visit from the National Youth Choir of Antigua and BarbudaYear 9 and 10 music students were treated to a fabulous concert delivered by the National Youth Choir of Antigua and Barbuda who came to the academy with the ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda in order to thank the students for their efforts, in conjunction with the Purcell School, to raise money for the hurricane relief fund.

The performance was mesmerising with a mixture of steel pans, congas, drums and piano in the rhythm section and soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices blended beautifully. The musicians performed a selection of material from spirituals, calypso, jazz, pop and folk music. The lyrics covered everything from the profound to the hilarious. Everything from the

costumes to the choreography was consummately professional. An outstanding performance lapped up by our eager music students.

www.thebusheyacademy.org

Year 6 Transition Day

2017-18 Photography CompetitionCongratulations to the following prize winners from this year’s photography competition:

KS3 – Grace Bunker – Babbage

KS4 – Natalie Wilds – Babbage

KS5 – Sky Lewis – Marconi

Staff - Ms Ricketts – Marconi

On Thursday 12 July we welcomed to the academy year 6 students who will be joining us in September. The students had a great day, taking part in a range of activities including art, science, and sport. The day

ended with an assembly where the students were joined by parents who watched a film of the day’s activities. We are very much looking forward to welcoming our new students in September.

Careers and AspirationCongratulations to students of The Bushey Academy for being in the top ten nationally for using ‘Start’ careers information and guidance online software. Start is the industry standard, free, online careers platform, designed to help connect 11-18 year olds with their future career. We continue to offer students opportunities to hear from industry professionals regarding possible future careers and have recently hosted talks from Clifford Chance LLP and Lions Watford.

Students from year 10 recently took part in ‘My Perfect University’, part of the Aspire Higher programme to encourage students to raise their aspirations for the future. Teams competed in challenges to design their own university campus courses and advertising, with the winners going on to represent the school in the regional finals.

We want to make sure everyone meets their potential – the sky’s the limit !

www.thebusheyacademy.org

District Athletics ‘B’ League ChampionsAfter 6 long years we have reclaimed our trophy!

The Bushey Academy won the overall B league in Athletics. This is an annual all day school event which involves 17 schools. The Bushey Academy are in a league with schools such as Francis Combe, Bushey Meads, Reach Free, Westfield and Rickmansworth school. This is a really tough event which also saw our Year 8 Boys Athletics Team come 3rd overall - beating Parmiters by 0.5 points, St Michaels by 1.5 points and Haberdashers by 5.0 points. This is an amazing achievement by the whole school.

We also had some individual success during the day:

• Year 7 High Jump Boys Champion - Dylan Naylor

• Year 8 Hurdles Boys Champion - Bogdan Marian

• Year 8 Discus Boys Champion - Finn McGrath• Year 8 300m Girls Champion - Jesse Dent• Year 8 Girls Relay Team Champions -

Nyobi Nunes, Jesse Dent, Talitha Rowe, Ashlene Stiles-Tagoe

• Year 8 100m runner up - Nyobi Nunes• Year 10 Triple Jump runner up - Jack Reddin• Year 10 200m Girls Runner up - Kyra Johal• Year 10 Triple jump Girls runner up - Holly

White• Year 8 800m Boys Third Place: - Harry Knight• Year 8 1500m Girls Third Place: - Talitha Rowe• Year 7 Girls 200m Third Place -

Chelsey Haynes• Year 7 High Jump Girls Third Place - Lily Baker

Congratulations to everyone that took part.

Faraday Challenge Event

MET Awards 2018

On the 13th June 2018, six Year 8 students travelled to Haberdashers School for Girls to take part in an IET Faraday Challenge Event . The IET is one of the world’s leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community. Their main objective is to further the advancement of science, engineering and technology and to encourage young people to study the STEM subjects and consider careers within the engineering and technology sectors. Students had the

opportunity to design their own community project in which they had to accommodate the needs of a whole community. The teams were assessed on their team skills, leadership roles, applying foundation knowledge to engineering and creativity. All of which they received excellent marks in. The students were a real credit to both The Bushey Academy and the Science Department and should be really proud of their efforts throughout the day.

The Bushey Academy were delighted to support the Bushey Festival this year by hosting a talk for the local community from TV presenter and wildlife expert Chris Packham. Billed as a “romp through the wild mind of Chris Packham”, the audience were treated to tales from the frontline, and it was funny, inspiring, irreverent, and packed with information. The academy very much hope to support the Bushey Festival again in the future.

The Bushey Festival and Chris Packham

The academy proudly watched five Year 10 and five Year 12 students receive awards from the Meller Educational Trust for Aspiration, Determination, Conduct, Excellence and Compassion.

The event took place in the City of London at the prestigious Merchant Taylors Hall, students from across the trust were celebrated and we were treated also to performances from students from each establishment. Kiana Khaleghi was amazing on behalf of The Bushey Academy, singing a solo.

It was a warm and uplifting event enjoyed by students, parents and staff.

Congratulations to the following students:

George Curtis Davina Barrell-MacDonaldLucy Lawson Micky BoothLewis Mead Jack DoyleCyprian Palczynski Emily Robson Jayni Vaghela Esther Miles

Trip to the Royal Opera HouseOn Tuesday 19th June, 28 music students from the academy went to the Royal Opera House to watch a special performance of Puccini’s tragedy La Boheme. The story follows the fortunes of a group of bohemian friends in 19th century. Central to the story is the love between a poor poet and a seamstress. The staging of the performance was outstanding with snow gently falling on the stage throughout the performance and smoke billowing from the chimneys of the houses. All of the staging was on wheels and moved from the artists loft, to the shopping arcade, from a restaurant to a small cabin. There was a full orchestra to accompany the performers and the sound inside the auditorium was incredible. The performers of the English National Opera were outstanding with the production managing to inject some humour into an otherwise tragic tale of a love cut short by illness. The character of Musetta was played Simona Mihai who put in an excellent performance to the character of this woman of loose morals! A good time was had by the students who attended, giving them the opportunity to experience a world-class performance in one of London’s finest theatres.

www.thebusheyacademy.org

PGL Mathematics Trip

Celebration of Success

On Friday 13th July Year 10 History students got the opportunity to go to St Albans to visit the Verulamium site, a major part of Roman Britain and an important part of our ‘History Around Us’ course. We went into the museum and saw interesting artefacts and relics from the period.

We also went to see the mosaic which was very well preserved. In addition we got the amazing opportunity to touch artefacts which were nearly 2000 years old. Also we saw a Roman theatre which is still used today to perform plays.

Overall our favourite part was touching the artefacts because it was a very special opportunity and it increased our understanding of life in Roman Britain.

By Jack Dradey and Robyn Hale, Year 10

Visiting Verulamium

At the end of the May half term 22 students accompanied Mr Ross, Mr London, Miss Ricketts and Miss Keatings to Osmington Bay, Weymouth for a long weekend of sea, sun and lots of fun; not to mention, maths. While at PGL the students completed activities which involved; the zip wire, abseiling, climbing and raft building. While coming down the abseiling tower, students used Pythagoras’ Theorem to calculate the length of rope used, the height of the tower and the landing distance from the base of the tower. This involved subtracting their height. It opened up a fantastic opportunity for discussion of shorter people using longer ropes and why! On the zip wire, students calculated their average speed after measuring the length of the wire and timing how long it took to move from the start to the finish points. This was a great opportunity to discuss average speed over the whole journey. On our final day, the students built rafts. This was where the students’ ability to work together was really tested. It was amazing to watch them on the water, paddling in unison, as they sailed across the harbour in Weymouth.

We were delighted to celebrate student successes with our ‘Celebration of Success’ event. Students from Years 9, 10, 11 and Sixth Form were joined by parents for prize giving interspersed with performances of music, mandarin poetry and drama. It was a spectacular evening and one we are keen to repeat for even more students in the future. Well done to everyone that received an award.

During this trip all the students had fun but many students achieved much more. Some overcame their fear of heights as they abseiled down from the 9.5 metre tower, whizzed across the zip wire and jumped off a trapeze pole. One particular student who had a fear of water helped to build a raft and accompanied his peers across the open water, while testing out their makeshift contraption. All enjoyed the indescribable feeling of achievement as these students shouted, “I

DID IT!” Students and staff were held together during the weekend by their new motto: “We are not NO people. We are YES people.” This helped students to overcome any fear they might have as their peers and teachers cheered them on to greater things. The students were a credit to themselves, their families, their teachers and to the school.

One of the highlights of the last week of this summer term has been the number of different celebrations that have been run by the academy to recognise individual achievement and success during the course of this academic year.

All students who have had an impeccable behaviour record, with no negative behaviour points at all during the whole academic year, will have a Celebration Breakfast on the last day of term to recognise this fantastic achievement and to say a big thank you to them for their outstanding conduct. They should all feel real pride in this accomplishment. They have set the example as role models for everyone.

In addition to the above Celebration Breakfast, there have been year group assemblies all week to recognise the top 50 students in each year group for Achievement Points. These students have accrued

their Achievement Points through hard work in the classroom, and commitment to the wider aspects of academy life. Again, they should all feel a real sense of pride in this accomplishment.

Particular recognition should go to the following top 20 achievement point students across Years 7 to 10, who also have no behaviour points:

Rocket Car Regional Finals

Achievement Celebrations

On 2 May 2018, four Year 7 students went to the regional finals of the rocket car design and launch at RAF Northolt. Although the weather could have been better, all the students worked well in a team to design and build their rocket car to race against other schools from the Watford Area. The students really enjoyed meeting other members of the RAF along with getting the chance to watch some of the planes take off from

the runway and having a detailed look at some of the vehicles which were on show. The car they built travelled 142.6 milliseconds over 100m which was so fast that one of the wheels detached mid-race. The students were a real credit to both The Bushey Academy and the Science Department and should be really proud in their efforts throughout the day.

www.thebusheyacademy.org

Purcell School ProjectThe Year 7 Purcell School Project (and a couple of Year 9s that are string players) produced a lovely end of term concert in the theatre on Monday 23rd July 2018. Musical pieces ranged from classical to pop and opera to movies. Exceptional standard was achieved in effort and musical achievement. The String Group and these smaller Year 7 groups will continue to compose and create covers of famous pieces into Year 8.

Hannah AndrewsCharley AxtellCara ButlerLuke DavisDiogo De FreitasAbbie HarrisAmy JacobsIris KnudsenChristopher MallordRomeo Maunick

Harriet OsmaniErfan SarrdarArcha ShajiReese SharpElla SmithLeigh-Ann TapscottCharlie WestJack WhiteNicholas Wickham Daniel Williams

There is clear link between good attendance and achievement. Research shows that for every 17 days missed from school your GCSE grades will go down by 1 grade.

How do YOU measure up?

Attendance during one school year

Equals – days absent Which is approximately weeks absent

Which means this number of lessons missed

95% 9 days 2 weeks 60 lessons

90% 19 days 4 weeks 120 lessons

85% 29 days 6 weeks 180 lessons

80% 38 days 8 weeks 240 lessons

75% 48 days 10 weeks 300 lessons

70% 57 days 11.5 weeks 345 lessons

65% 67 days 13.5 weeks 405 lessons

Attendance Matters

www.thebusheyacademy.org

The Bushey Academy, London Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire WD23 3AA

Tel: 020 8950 9502 Fax: 020 8420 4038

Email: admin@thebusheyacademy.org

www.thebusheyacademy.org

CONTACT INFO

KEY DATES 2018 DATE FROM DATE TO

A Level/AS Level results day Thursday 16 August 2018

GCSE results day Thursday 23 August 2018

Staff Inset Training Days Monday 3 September 2018 Tuesday 4 September 2018

Start of Autumn Term for Year 7 and Year 12 only Wednesday 5 September 2018 Friday 21 December 2018

Start of Autumn Term for remaining/ all Year Groups

Thursday 6 September 2018 Friday 21 December 2018

Open Evening Tuesday 18 September 2018

Meet the Pastoral and Tutor Teams for Years 7, 8 and 9

Tuesday 25 September 2018

Meet the Pastoral and Tutor Teams for Years 10 and 11

Wednesday 26 September 2018

October Half Term Monday 29 October 2018 Friday 2 November 2018

Sixth Form Open Evening Wednesday 14 November 2018

Christmas Holiday Monday 24 December 2018 Monday 7 January 2019

Friday 20th July saw the academy celebrate our annual sports day at Woodside Stadium. It was a very warm day, but lovely to see so many parents turn up to support the students.

The stands were decorated, the athletes had chosen their events and the ice cream van was in attendance! There was huge competition for points all day, with students reminded that just taking part in an event would guarantee points for their House. There was some very loud cheerleading going on, and even a set of drums to help encourage those taking part.

It was lovely to see so many students taking part and having a go at lots of different events just to gain more points for their House.

The final results at the end of the day meant that Edison, the 2017 Winners, had been defeated, with Whittle emerging victorious after Marconi were leading at the half way point of the day. Mr Hebblethwaite had the tough decision of deciding the Best Supported House of the day – and after much deliberation Edison were declared the winners of this trophy.

Year Boys Girls

7 Whittle Whittle

8 Whittle Whittle

9 Babbage Whittle

10 Edison Edison

Overall Winners 1st place – Whittle 2nd place – Edison3rd place – Marconi4th place - Babbage

Best Supported House Edison

Sports Day 2018